COURCHEVEL, France (AP) — First-run leader Alexis Pinturault held on to win the gold medal in the men’s combined Tuesday at his home world championships.
In a tricky slalom run on a steep pitch, the Frenchman retained his lead from the super-G portion to edge defending champion Marco Schwarz by 0.10 seconds. The Austrian, second after the first leg, seemed headed for the victory when leading Pinturault by 0.30 seconds at the final split but had a costly mistake at the fourth-to-last gate.
Pinturault is a Courchevel native and his family is running a hotel close to the L’Eclipse course. He previously won the world title in 2019, but was beaten to gold by Schwarz two years later. He also took Olympic silver in 2018.
Pinturault dominated the discipline when it was still part of the World Cup circuit until 2020, winning six of the last eight season titles.
The combined event adds the times from one super-G run and one slalom run.
Raphael Haaser finished 0.44 behind to win bronze, a day after his sister, Ricarda Haaser, also took bronze in the women’s combined event.
American skier River Radamus held on to his position from the super-G portion and finished fourth, missing a medal by a quarter of a second. Johannes Strolz, the Olympic champion, had a disappointing showing as he trailed Pinturault by 2.48 seconds after the super-G before not finishing the slalom, his strongest event.
Marco Odermatt, who is dominating the World Cup circuit, was disqualified for missing a gate shortly before the finish of his super-G run.
Several skiers, including Olympic silver medalist Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and two-time world champion Vincent Kriechmayr, used the super-G run only as training for Thursday’s race and did not start in the slalom portion.
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